COLOMBIA
Freshly Inked
Colombia inked a formal cease-fire agreement with its last remaining major rebel group, making further progress in the long walk toward a permanent peace deal.
Talks have been underway with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, since February, the Associated Press reported.
Under the deal, the rebels will suspend attacks on infrastructure, kidnappings and recruitment of minors. For its part the government will protect social leaders from reprisal and develop a program to rehabilitate rebel fighters.
The deal with the much smaller group comes in the lead-up to a visit to Colombia from Pope Francis, who is fulfilling a promise to visit the war-torn country contingent on a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
FARC has turned over its weapons and aims to compete in elections next year. But negotiations with ELN have been slower since exploratory talks began more than three years a
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